Degradation

A consistent theme across a somewhat disjointed point is the demonstrated of how the guards and supervisors in The Little School destroyed the prisoners' sense of human dignity. First, they gave the prisoners little food and rarely let them shower. They also forced the prisoners to remain blindfolded the entire time during their stay. Prisoners were prevented from speaking to each other. Further, they were often watched when they were in the latrine. Guards beat the prisoners, including the women, and tortured them for information. They even shocked the pregnant Graciela in her stomach in order to terrify her with worry about her child.

But the most humiliating forms of treatment involved sexual humiliation. In many cases, the guards would force prisoners like Partnoy to strip so they could view them naked and masturbate while watching. In another case, the guards tried to get Maria and Benja to...